A not-so-brief recap … for those new to this blog:
If you’ve seen “Slumdog Millionaire”, you have seen a piece of what I’d like to share with you. July 2008 took this Cape Story resident (and a few others from our small neighborhood) to one of the world’s poorest countries, Nicaragua , to see some sights I would never have imagined, and would probably have previously said I’d prefer to not EVER see. But along this adventure and with peeks at extreme poverty, came some big surprises.
As part of an ORPHANetwork.org trip, I spent a week at a children’s orphanage on the outskirts of Managua , Nicaragua . Casa Bernabe (House of Hope/Encouragement) is the home to about 75 or so children, ages 3 to 18. I was fortunate to go with about 17 other people, all of whom were total strangers to me. I spoke barely a handful of words in Spanish (my French and German did me no good down there), but learned the international language of smiles, and high-fives, and digital cameras (if I turned over my camera to those excited little fingers, they were happy to be my buddy, snapping photos of their friends, zooming through the pictures I already had stored on the camera, trying to explain who was who, and what was what). We lived on the property of the orphanage for the full week, and got to know these kids really well. But I’ll get back to the kids at the orphanage in a bit.
While in Nicaragua , we had some opportunities to visit a few other places, including a feeding center where hundreds upon hundreds of children are fed, for most, their one meal of the day. When we arrived, maybe a 100 or more kids were sitting in plastic chairs in a huge covered patio, waiting for us. Our instructions were, “Walk in, pick up a child, sit in their chair, and put them in your lap.” (You’re kidding me, right? Nope.) We did as we were told, and the singing began. They sang songs to us, played games with us (tie a balloon to your waist, and try to pop everyone’s balloon but don’t let yours get popped), had sack races, some pinata insanity and more. We learned from the fellow who ran this feeding center about the kids that they feed, where they get their funding (some of it is funded by ORPHANetwork), and lots more. Before we left, the kids at the feeding center asked us to sit in a circle on the ground, and we suddenly had many, a dozen or more, little candy-sticky hands on our heads, our shoulders, our arms, our backs. Then, their heads went down … and they prayed for us, prayed for our families and friends, for our health, for our safe return to the U.S. These kids, with so many struggles, living in tremendous poverty, eating perhaps one meal a day, many from dysfunctional and broken families, prayed for me, prayed for us. Oh my. If YOU are prayed over by kids in these circumstances, it really is powerful.
Earlier I mentioned the movie, “Slumdog Millionaire” with scenes of tremendous poverty as well. Do you remember the scene of the children in the garbage dump, picking through garbage. Hard to watch, wasn’t it? I now know that this scene is repeated many times over around the world. And yes, in Nicaragua too. One day we all piled into our bus and drove to the garbage dump for the city of Managua . We drove through the gates, and were instantly greeted not only with swarms of flies, but a smell that I really don’t think you want me to describe. Many of us held hands and t-shirts over our faces, as we drove on unpaved dirt roads through several stories-high mountains of trash. We passed shack after shack, most with dirt and garbage-strewn yards filled with barefoot toddlers and children, and I now know that well over 1,000 (some say 1,500 to 1,800) people including several hundreds of children live INSIDE Managua’s garbage dump. These families are the poorest of the poor. The subsist from the garbage brought to the dump; building their homes, dressing their families, even finding their meals amongst the trash that is unloaded from truck after truck arriving to dump their load. Can you imagine this life? As the trucks back up to dump out,children, teens and adults and skinny-cattle and oh-so-skinny dogs, and vultures all hover, ready to search for whatever it is that they need. This is the trash from a city in one of the world’s poorest countries. (If they could go through our trash, they’d be “rich” indeed.)
When our bus stopped, and we timidly got out, we were greeted by about 25 smiling kids, who didn’t look like they belonged in this garbage dump at all. Nicely washed faces, combed hair, decent jeans and t-shirts and shoes. (Beyond them, the not-so-lucky kids, who were definitely not looking that great.) For the ones greeting us (and getting ready to go on a little trip with us, their mommas knew this was a special day, and made sure the kids were scrubbed and ready to go. We each grabbed the hand of a child .. and my little buddy was a gorgeous young boy named Santiago . Want to see a picture of handsome Santiago ? Read further in my blog. We were led on a tour of the home (a shack) of the woman who is the unofficial “mayor” of this garbage dump. She was so proud to show us her dirt-floored home, where she cared for 13 children … we don’t know if they were all hers … some pigs, and also helped to care for the residents of the dump. Next on the tour; a brightly painted school! Yes, a school, INSIDE of the garbage dump. This school is so terrific, that many residents from the city of Managua send their children to this school … the school INSIDE the dump! We then walked up a hill where we could see over what appeared to be several square miles of mountains of trash, each dotted with kids and adults and cattle and dogs, vultures flying overhead, looking for food and more. (The families of the dump also earn a very small living, approx. $12 a month, from collecting recyclables from the trash, and selling it to … well, someone who pays money for recyclables.)
The best part is next. We gathered our 25 or so little buddies and piled back onto the bus and headed into town to a fast-food restaurant called “Tip-Top” … complete with playland and children’s ball pit. The party room was reserved for us, and we colored and played until the Tip-Top version of “Happy Meals” arrived. I know that I, for one, was excited to see the look on Santiago ‘s face when he saw the hot chicken leg, fries, (perhaps a biscuit?) and Tip-Top toy. Santiago ‘s eyes were quite wide when he opened the box, peered in … and then closed the box. What??? Surely this child is hungry. With the help of a friend who knew more spanish than I did, we said, “Eat! It’s for you!!” Santiago shook his head and said, “No … I must take it home to my family.” (Deep breath …. ) I did finally convince Santiago to have a few nibbles, only after I piled my bigger Tip-Top meal into his box … for his family. Then, delicately, Santiago pulled off the tiniest bits of the chicken, dipped just one small corner into a puddle of ketchup …. and ate, smiling. Later, when the sealed cups of ice cream arrived, Santiago tried to pack that into his box to share with his family too. We explained, “No … it will melt. You need to eat it now.” Santiago dipped his little wooden spoon into the ice cream and ate a bite. Then he dipped his spoon in again … and offered it to me. This sweet, angel-faced child, who lives in a garbage dump, was offering his ice cream to me.
There’s just so much to tell you about this trip to Nicaragua . We saw so much. Some would say too much. But let me get back to the kids at the orphanage. Every day, we hung out with these happy, spirited kids. We visited them in the morning as they prepared for school. Many of us walked the kids to school (on the property of the orphanage, perhaps a half-mile walk) and many went to meet our buddies after school, to walk them back home too. We helped to serve them dinner, we relieved the girls of their kitchen duty for a few days, washing the dishes, washing the floors. When they were in school, the orphanage director asked us to help paint the orphanage exterior, which we did (and many of us still had blue paint on our calves and flip-flops and under our nails as we flew home). We spent the day at the beach. We rode with the boys’ soccer team to watch them play their second game of the season (a WIN!) and as we cheered and yelled their names, I wondered if they’d ever had anyone in the stands screaming, “GO TONY! Kick it!!!” before? We had a girls’ night complete with manicures and hair-braiding and other girlie stuff. We played a version of paper-scissors-rocks, called kungfu-gorilla-cowboy. [Don’t ask (c: ]
I made special friends with a young man named Stanley . To tell you about Stanley would take several more much-too-long emails, but you can read more about him and see his picture below.
(This blog starts with the most recent post first, so you may want to scroll your way to the end, and start from there.)
And finally, if you would be interested in sponsoring me and my son, as we excitedly return (well, my 2nd trip, his first) to Casa Bernabe for the 2009 trip, I am trying to raise $2,700 (before June 15th) to cover this year’s trip. I can’t wait!!!! **Update … now need just $2,460 as of 5/3/09**
I had one yard sale, and have also already received one generous donation from a friend, so I am on my way. There are several ways you can help out:
1.) Write a check payable to “SBCC” (this is my church, who sponsors this orphanage in Nicaragua ) and drop it off or mail it to me. Please email me for my home address (contentedlb@yahoo.com) ** This is a tax-deductible donation.
2.) Write a check to “”SBCC” and mail it to ORPHANetwork but PLEASE make sure that in the memo section it says “contribution to L. Baity’s trip” so that they know what it is for. Their address is 1500 N. Great Neck Rd., Virginia Beach, VA 23454 **Again, tax deductible.
3.) SORRY, as of 6/15/09, my CHIPIN.com account for donations is now closed.
I welcome your questions and emails about this trip and the kids down at Casa Bernabe, Nueve Vida (the feeding center), La Chureca (the dump), and anything else that is on your heart. (Go to YouTube and search for La Chureca and you’ll see many videos.)
Thank you for considering sponsorship. This has been a tough year and as of 6/15/09, I am short as far as funding resources. But at this point, I feel it’s too late to back out of the trip, and I’d lose about $700 from the plane ticket. So, I’ll put the rest on a credit card and hope that this summer brings me just a bit of extra moolah to pay down that card.
XO and God Bless,
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Laura Email: contentedlb@Yahoo.com
Helping Kids at Casa Bernabe and around Managua 